Her efforts were a little more profitable than the average self-published children's book.
It has now emerged that she made $500,000 from sales to the University of Maryland Medical System while serving on their Board of Directors. Other private companies made bulk book orders while bidding (successfully) on city contracts.
That's one way to do it, I guess. One person's "massive conflict of interest" is another's "No, they just really loved my insipid little book".